There were no last second heroics for the Carleton Ravens football team, as they suffered a huge 53-3 loss at the hands of the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks Sept. 27.
The game was homecoming for the Golden Hawks, and over 7,000 fans came to support the home team.
“It’s very hard to go into a hostile environment like that,” Ravens quarterback Nick Gorgichuck said.
The Ravens started the game with a good opening drive, but that was all they had in the tank, according to Ravens receiver Kyle Van Wynsberghe.
“When we didn’t score on the first drive, we marched the ball down onto their 15-yard line and we didn’t score on that, the morale fell off,” he said.
The Ravens started off down 10-0 after the first quarter. The second quarter didn’t get any better as the Golden Hawks scored three unanswered touchdowns and a field goal, giving them a 34-0 lead at half.
In the third quarter, the Golden Hawks scored two more touchdowns, a safety, and a field goal to give them an overpowering 53-0 lead.
The Ravens managed to get some offense moving late in the fourth quarter, as Michael Domagala kicked a 39-yard field goal to put Carleton on the board, but that was all they would score.
“It was just a rough day all around, not much that we were doing was going our way, Van Wynsberghe said.
The Golden Hawks had just come off a bye week and they took full advantage of the break, Wynsberghe said.
“I think the bye week was definitely in their favour. It gives them two weeks to get their players healthy and two games to watch game film on us,” he said.
The defeat could be linked to the Ravens’ 33-31 last second win over the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in their previous week, according to Van Wynsberghe.
“We call it the panda hangover,” he said. “Anytime you come off an emotional win . . . the final play, making it on TSN all week-it doesn’t leave the locker room within a day, or three days. It’s still stuck in there.”
Gorgichuk said the Ravens plan on bouncing back from this loss to be ready for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at home on Oct. 4.
“It was definitely a wake-up call. This showed us we are coming along but we’re not there yet. You need to prepare the same each week and I think the team is going to rebound very well,” he said.
Ravens defensive co-ordinator Ryan Bechmanis said they will respond to the loss by “getting back to the basics, working on our system, and getting back to working hard and putting out the right effort.”
